Modelling, Control and Applications of Hydrodynamic Cavitation Phenomena (CaviPRO)
Prof. Vivek Ranade, University of Limerick has been awarded €2.17 million in funding as part of the EU Doctoral Network programme for CaviPRO. Prof. Ranade, Bernal Chair of Process Engineering at Bernal Institute and SSPC funded investigator, will coordinate the project with leading scientists across Europe to push the current scientific boundaries and explore entirely new directions of fundamental research on controlled cavitation to facilitate deployment of hydrodynamic cavitation at industrial scale.
The MSCA Doctoral Network project CaviPRO received the maximum grade (100%) and hosting 10 PhD students across Europe.
Challenge
Hydrodynamic cavitation is known for causing damages on machines, pipelines and equipment due to the formation and implosion of tiny gas bubbles and local temperature hotspots. Controlling and utilizing these harsh micro-conditions has the potential to revolutionize process unit operations such as mixing, reactions, emulsions and particle formation for the benefit of the European process industries and global industrial community. Systematic understanding of the physicochemical phenomena occurring in HC and design of HC reactors and scale-up are missing.
Solution
The CaviPRO project will harness hydrodynamic cavitation for intensifying mixing, reactions, emulsions and particle formation via developing systematic understanding, new devices and scale-up methodologies. The project aims to guide the research further towards game changing implementations that utilises hydrodynmiac cavitation and orchestrate them in large systems that are ready for industrial deployment. To acheive this we will push the current scientific boundaries and explore entirely new irections of fundamental research on controlled cavitation that is linked to state-of-the-art additive manufacturing, advanced process control and machine learning.
Impact
The four-year project under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks umbrella will support 10 PhD students.
CaviPRO will also educate and mentor these PhD candidates to form a critical mass of fully skilled young professionals. These researchers will also gain industry experience by doing placements, preparing them for problem solving and entrepreneurial roles that will facilitate realisation of cutting-edge technologies across Europe.
The project network is built on synergies and complementarities between leading scientists, world-class institutions, different disciplines, and the incorporation of several industries as drivers – ranging from start-ups to SMEs to global players from all over Europe.
Partnership
Tu Dresden, Germany; Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany; University Torino, Italy; University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; ETH Zurich, Switzerland, Air Liquide, France; Biocore Environmental, Ireland; Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland; Paques Global BV, The Netherlands; Pfizer, Ireland; CRB Benelux BV, The Netherlands; Andritz, Austria; Johnson & Johnson, Ireland; Siemens, Germany; Fraunhofer Institut, Germany.
